Intel announced the opening of its first ever chip manufacturing facility in Asia on Tuesday, in Dalian, China.

The US$2.5 billion chip factory is producing chips on 12-inch (300-millimeter) silicon wafers, mainly chipsets to be used in desktop computers, laptops and servers, Intel said. The factory is already fully operational.

When it was originally announced in 2007, the factory project raised eyebrows because it was a major commitment by Intel to produce its chips in an advanced factory in China, where intellectual property and national defense concerns play a role. The U.S. government had to give a go-ahead on technologies related to the project due to defense policies that aim to prevent advanced technologies from falling into the hands of countries that might use them in weapons-making.

The Dalian factory is Intel's first at a completely new site since 1992. New sites are more difficult to open because such chip factories require numerous services and utilities to support their output. The factory space inside is roughly the size of 23 football fields, Intel said.